The question of "Cyber" Safety

This morning (with thanks to @craigthomler & Twitter) I came across this Submission to the Joint Select Committee of Cyber Safety from Mark Newton. It's 18 pages long yet I sat at my desk and took the time to read through it, thoroughly, no skimming

I was struck by much of this submission, agreeing with most of it and glad that someone was both able to put into words so many of my own thoughts and arguments as well as submit the same to the Joint Select Committee. I look forward to reading ALIA's submission on the same topic.

Perhaps just a few of the many quotes that struck a chord with me.

"This committee is looking at “cyber-safety.” I put it to the committee’s members that the real issue is “safety.” Child abuse is child abuse; bullying is bullying; stalking is stalking; harassment is harassment. Whether they happen online or offline is totally immaterial to the victim and irrelevant to the perpetrator. The Government’s response should and must be indifferent to the medium through which the crime is committed." (p5)

And the bit that really got up my nose in regards to the better rating of games, indicating that if the public response doesn't say what the government wants to hear then they'll just ask the question again is.... "Public consultations yielding over 50,000 responses in favor of the establishment of an R18+ rating for computer games, put on the back-burner because, apparently, 50,000 responses is inadequate and more consultation is required." (p18) wtf!!

And in closing,
"This Government has literally no idea what it’s doing with the online environment, and has shown an outright refusal to be educated about it. Is it any wonder that so many people distrust them?
This Committee represents a very rare opportunity to inform the Government. For all of our sakes, I hope they’re prepared to listen." (p18) Here, here.

r u game fashions.......

I noticed in amongst the comments from yesterday's seminar at NSL was the importance of branding, like what we are trying to achieve with RISG on RedBubble. Yesterday I wore my pink girlie shirt to work and today I'm wearing my black long-sleeved number with the text on the back.

I've decided I like wearing Library themed shirts to work - certainly eases a few of the wardrobe decisions some mornings!

A few extras from r u game? yesterday

Go to www.slideshare.net/hayesg31 to view Gary P Hayes' presentation (you could also follow him on Twitter - @GaryPHayes)

Jenny Levine (@shifted on twitter) is one of US' library gaming gurus and can be found at http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/category/blog

And Michael Stephens can be found at http://tametheweb.com/ (@mstephens7 on Twitter)

Oh the fun they had at r u game? yesterday!!

I so enjoyed following the comments on Twitter yesterday and am enjoying following them again today from the online seminar in WoW. this is such a great event and judging by the comments on Twitter is really engaging with a lot of library staff.

One thing that struck me yesterday was the number of urls flying around so I thought I'd best compile them from the twitter feed before they disappeared into the ether.

Here they are:

http://www.muvedesign.com/ (Multi User Virtual Environment design)
http://www.mcvideogame/ (understand McDonalds processes)
www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/frame_start.jsp?id=homepage (check out Toyota's new iQ)
http://www.persuasivegames.com/ (Jetset: a game for airports)
http://www.dafurisdying.com/
http://missioncontrol.adventureecology.com/
www.reachout.com.au/ (helping people to understand why they get depressed)
http://thesims3.ea.com/ (teaching teens how to react in siuations)
http://akoha.com/ (social reality game)
http://isites.harvard.ed/icb/icb.do?keyword=harp (Handheld Augmented Reality Project)
www.interactivestory.net/#facade
http://www.xbconnect.com/
www.truism.com/ (paramedic simulation)
http://www.afmpgame.com/ (political crisis handling simulation)
www.msafire.com/game_home.com (fire simulation)
http://www.food-force.com/ (decision making in disasters)
http://www.sydac.com.au/ (build simulator, driving train, flying plains, etc)
http://www.bmw.com/com/en/owners/service/augmented_reality_introduction_1.html (BMW mechanic wears goggles while working)
www.parkmanmurder.com/ (Walking Cinema: murder on Beacon Hill - a beautiful piece of storytelling)
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/streetmuseum.htm (iphone apps map + video showing then & now of a streetscape)
www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology/2010/05/20/museum-of-london-launches-incredible-augmented-reality-iphone-app-115875-22272465/ (newspaper article re above app)
www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/innov8/index.html (enabling staff change)
http://www.americasarmy.com/ (USA militatry recruitment game) - compare to Australia's http://defencejobs.gov.au/games and fly the RAAF Strike Fighter F-35 Lightning II)
http://www.metaio.com/
www.metaio.com/demo/demo/pop-sci-cover/ (3D magazine cover)
http://www.harrypotter3d.com/ (3D map of Harry Potter)
http://worldwithoutoil.org/ (imagine first 32 weeks of a global oil crisis)
http://www.superstructgame.org/ (imagaine the world in 2050)
http://www.urgentvoke.com/ (latest game from Jane McGonnigal - games to change the world)
http://simcitysocieties.ea.com/ (so Town Planners can learn about social impacts)
www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk/ (Serious Games Institute, UK)
www.abc.net.au/tv/seriousgames/ (ABC Serious Games Initiative)
www.abc.net.au/innovation/bluebird/ (ABC's Bluebird project)
www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_pink_shirky/ (Wired mag article on Cognitive Surplus)
http://developer/nvideia.com/object/udk.html (Unreal Development Kit)
www.dsto.defence.gov.au/MAGIC2010/ (competition for robot development)
www.torquepowered.com/products/torque-3d
http://www.nearmap.com/ (alternate source for mapping graphics)
www.vimeo.com/shanachietour
www.dutchcowboys.nl/gaming/18804 (some recent game statistics)
www.redbubble.com/people/nswrisg (the importance of branding)
http://scratch.mit.edu/ (create interactive stories, games, music, art & share online)
http://www.ugame-ulearn.com/ (in Dutch)
www.tudelft.nl/ws/381465?shdoc=381465&language=EN (Dark Ink)
www.cannibalgamestudios.com/
http://vimeo.com/5643953 (connecting council image archives and library databases)
http://www.shanachietour.com/
http://www.thisweekinlibraries.com/


Phew!

r u game?

The inaugural r u game? Games & Public Libraries seminar is on today at the State Library of NSW. I wish I was there.

However, just because I couldn't make it doesn't mean I can't participate & share in the wonder that is today.


I'm wearing my r u game? shirt which I got from RedBubble.

And I'll be following all the action on Twitter.



I think Ellen Forsyth has done a great job in preparing both today's seminar and especially tomorrow's event in World of Warcraft. This is such an exciting thing she's achieved, I hope everyone pays attention.

CRL's online newsletter - June

Here's the latest news from Clarence Regional Library's online newsletter

Lots of things happened around the branches during Library & Information Week and a lot of fun was had by all during National Simultaneous Storytime too. I had loads of pictures to put into this newsletter but given the constraints of the newsletter program could only add in 1 for each section. I'm working on plans to open up the sections a bit more over time so I can put loads more photos in.

Anyway, enjoy.

Simple things often best

We've been living with our new CRL website for over 12 months now. It was a long time coming and took quite some effort to pull together but we were really happy with it (trust me, after our previous one it's fantabulous!). Anyway, as with any good website we didn't just sit back on our laurels we recently did a complete audit of it and made a few changes. They aren't big changes but just enough to keep the website fresh and interesting and more importantly to show that we're growing and changing with our community.

A recent blog post from Craig Thomler at eGovAU on reinventing website perfection iterates this point: "the ability to be flexible and agile to meet changing needs quickly and be capable of making a wesbite more and more effective over time, improving reputation and reducing legal risks".

It's nice to know we're trying to get it right.

r u game?

Ellen has created this great little Slideshare 'how to...' for the online section of the r u game? games and public libraries seminar on June 24th.

r u game online 2010 : getting ready

View more presentations from Ellen Forsyth.

CRL website development [sigh]

It's website review time again at work - actually I think it's everything review time [sure feels that way].

Anyway, we're revamping things just a little and as a result I get to go play with Google calendar, or whatever other calendar options are out there that we could use for our website for a "What's On" page/section/etc.

I love playing so that's the good thing. Not too sure how helpful it's going to be though - the biggest challenge to any What's On page is always getting the branch staff to contribute and tell us what they're doing (sometimes it's harder than pulling teeth, and trust me, I can get blood out of a stone!!). A few branches are really active but some of the others, ........... [sigh]

Not to worry, spot of lunch and then it's valid play time....... yay!